1.    What was the real diagnosis you made of Bolivia's national road network upon assuming the presidency of the ABC? Are we at a moment of construction, maintenance, or road rescue?

When I assumed the presidency of the Bolivian Road Administration (ABC) in November 2025, the diagnosis revealed an institution immersed in a deep institutional, operational, and financial crisis. This scenario was characterized by administrative paralysis, opacity in the handling of resources, and an alarming lack of reliable information.

Regarding the diagnosis of the Fundamental Road Network (RVF), the state of the infrastructure and management at the time of the transition, several critical points stand out, for example, execution capacity plummeted to historic levels, reaching only 44% total budget execution and 40% in investment during 2025. This resulted in a massive failure to meet physical targets: of the 248.60 km of road planned, only 69 km were built, and bridge construction was zero (0%). There is a crisis of conservation and maintenance. The condition of the sections under road maintenance is critical, with neglected routes and without maintenance due to failed bids caused by poorly prepared terms of reference and insufficient budgets. We can affirm that roads in Bolivia are definitely in emergency.

2.    What have been the main challenges you have identified in these first months of management?

In the first months of the new administration, critical challenges have been identified stemming from a 'Gridlock State' such as the very low levels of budgetary and physical execution I mentioned, the critical deterioration of the Fundamental Road Network (RVF), the financial and liquidity crisis; added to this is the collapse of legal and contractual management, negligence in handling external financing, and no progress in institutional modernization. In short, the biggest current challenge is institutional reconstruction to transform the ABC from a paralyzed entity into an engine of development that regains the trust of funders and citizens.

3.    What first concrete measures or decisions have you taken since taking office?

Since I assumed the presidency of the ABC in November 2025, a series of concrete measures and decisions have been implemented aimed at reversing the 'Gridlock State' and rebuilding the institution's institutional strength. The main actions reported are:

• Implementation of the New Strategic Framework: Management has begun under the Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES) 2026–2030, reorienting institutional planning toward a vision of transparency and efficiency after the close of the previous cycle.

• Information Cleanup and Transparency: As one of the first administrative actions, all departments and units were required to submit reliable documentation to make the true state of the institution transparent and consolidate the accountability report.

• Adoption of Fiscal Discipline: The application of the zero-deficit rule in road works management has been established, ensuring that each investment responds strictly to criteria of social need and financial sustainability.

• Digitalization of the Procurement Process: The implementation of a transparent digital system for tenders has been proposed, with the aim of combating corruption and ensuring that local companies can participate on equal terms.

• Management of Liabilities and Legal Conflicts: The closure of legal liabilities and the resolution of ongoing court proceedings that had kept strategic works paralyzed have been defined as priorities, seeking to restore institutional legal certainty.

• Guaranteeing Operational Liquidity: Measures have been taken to guarantee the necessary liquidity for the payment of payrolls to contractors and to the microenterprises of the Provial program, thus avoiding new stoppages due to lack of payment that affect road passability.

• Coordination with Funders and Regions: Coordination mechanisms have been deployed with funding agencies and subnational governments to correct pending technical deficiencies and ensure the flow of local counterpart resources.

These measures seek to transform the ABC into a dynamic player in public investment, overcoming administrative paralysis and restoring the trust of citizens and international organizations.

4.    In the management of a road agency, transparency in the awarding of works is usually a sensitive issue. What control mechanisms have you implemented in your administration?

To address the sensitivity surrounding the transparency of work-award processes and overcome inherited opacity, we intend to implement control and transparency mechanisms through the integration of systems with the purpose of combating corruption head-on and ensuring that local companies, especially small and medium-sized ones, can participate on equal terms. This will also make it possible to have reliable institutional information that can be made available for the consideration of the population, social oversight, and of course for improving decision-making.

5.    What is the main bottleneck that is slowing the progress of emblematic projects and what concrete solution is the ABC applying?

The main bottleneck slowing the progress of emblematic projects is the phenomenon known as the 'Gridlock State', an institutional and administrative paralysis characterized by opacity, lack of reliable information, and extreme operational weakness. These measures are part of an integral institutional reconstruction strategy under the new PDES 2026–2030 framework, aimed at turning road infrastructure into an engine of efficient and transparent development.

6.    Public management is usually exposed to constant questioning. How is leadership and credibility built in a high-pressure environment?

Building leadership and credibility in public management — especially under pressure and constant scrutiny — does not depend on a single action, but on the sustained coherence between what is said, decided, and done. Credibility comes from consistency. A public leader must act according to their principles even in difficult situations. People pay more attention to complex decisions than to speeches. It is not enough to respond when there are criticisms. Leadership is tested when there is no perfect information.

Making timely, well-founded decisions and assuming their consequences conveys solidity, even if not everyone agrees. It also requires building technically solid teams, with a high level of commitment and proven moral and ethical integrity. This is the basis of successful public management.

Finally, credibility is consolidated through results. But these must be communicated properly: translating the technical into citizen-friendly language and showing how they affect daily life.

7.    What did the graduate studies at UPB contribute to your professional training?

My time at UPB in the Master's in Business Administration and Management allowed me to significantly strengthen my analytical and decision-making capacity in complex environments. It gave me technical tools that help implement a more strategic vision of management, with a better understanding of the complexity of institutional environments. In addition, the practical approach and exchange with professionals enriched my judgment, and have allowed me to build networks of contacts that make it possible to address and solve several management problems.

In public management, where everything is important and urgent, a high degree of prioritization is needed, both in the allocation of resources and in the time and energy that each executive and work team dedicates to important issues. Leadership also means keeping the team motivated in the face of the Gridlock State (structural bureaucracy), which often discourages and frustrates the most qualified officials. Tenacity in achieving objectives is fundamental.

8.    What legacy do you seek to leave at the head of the ABC? What road or what change in institutional culture would you like your administration to be remembered for?

In institutional and technical terms, I would like our greatest legacy to be the design and launch of the National Road Conservation and Rehabilitation Fund, which must become the main management instrument for the efficient conservation of the road system. Today one of the country's biggest problems is the critical deterioration of road infrastructure, the result of years of neglect and the lack of a management instrument. The Conservation Fund aims to implement a modern, independent, solid, and transparent mechanism to address the conservation of more than 18,100 km of roads.

Additionally, we seek to consolidate a road network that integrates territories, reduces gaps, and energizes local economies. May each work not be just asphalt, but an opportunity for productive development, access to services, tourism, and territorial cohesion. The most important change I would like to be remembered for is having strengthened an institutional culture and having contributed to reversing the 'Gridlock State' that does so much harm to our country and its institutions.

9.    How do you define your leadership model in public service?

This new moment in the country generates a massive sense of change. In all areas of society, it feels like it is time to participate and contribute the best we have to the reconstruction of the Homeland. The values conveyed by President Rodrigo Paz Pereira in highlighting family, the homeland, meritocracy, ethics, and revaluing institutionality are truly motivating and inspiring.

Based on these elements, institutional leadership at the ABC must make it possible to express these values in each of the actions and efforts carried out at all levels, transmitting this new vision to the human work team and generating a strong commitment to it.